


The Return of Thanksgiving

by starlight_and_seafire



Series: Holiday Road [2]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Modern AU, POV Poe Dameron, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 00:17:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16712824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlight_and_seafire/pseuds/starlight_and_seafire
Summary: Poe's thankful for good food, good movies, and the opportunity to spend time with his new favorite person.





	The Return of Thanksgiving

_I’ll be there in 10. Need me to pick anything up on my way?_

Poe smiles down at his phone as he reads the text from Rey. It had been just over three weeks since they first met, and with the exception of one lovely dinner that was interrupted halfway through when his boss had called him to fill in for another pilot that had taken ill, he hadn’t had any extended time alone with his new favorite person.

They had quickly taken to texting back and forth at all hours of the day and night, as Rey’s classes and jobs kept her busy and her hours odd, and Poe’s job had him flying coast to coast and he could barely remember what time zone he was in at any given moment. But still, every time his phone beeped with a text from Rey, his heart flopped over a little in his chest, at the thought that she was thinking about him and wanted to reach out.

And he did his best to fashion some witty reply, or tried to find the best meme to respond to hers. Once, when she had somewhat cryptically told him she was in the middle of a bad day at work, he sent her a picture of Beebee, his corgi. She responded with numerous heart emojis, and ever since then, each morning he was at home, he’d text her good morning, and follow that with a picture of Beebee, and he’d immediately receive the most enthusiastic response he’d ever seen to his dog, outside of himself.

After that first week, their daily texts had morphed into phone calls each evening. That conversation is the highlight of his day, the opportunity to hear her sweet voice and listen to it recount the events of her day even if he can’t see her.

Luckily, he’s the senior pilot in his rotation, and he received the Thanksgiving holiday off. He spent the holiday itself at his father’s home across town, and many of his extended family had flown in from Florida to spend Thursday and Friday gorging themselves on vast amounts of delicious food.

Now, he doesn’t have to go back to work until Monday, and he’s got enough leftovers in his fridge to feed an army.

Or himself and one Rey, he thinks. He remembers her plate from the Halloween party and her glee at taking his leftovers when they had to cut their dinner date short when he had to leave town.

His fingers fly over his phone’s keyboard. _Unless there’s something you want in particular, I think we’ve got everything we need here. See you soon._

His phone beeps almost instantly. _Got it, see you soon!_

He takes one more circuit around his living room. The first movie in the trilogy is already in his DVD player ready to be played, and the others are sitting next to it. A quick look around the room confirms that everything is clean, and nothing is out of place. He has a few blankets set out on the sofa, and he starts to floof up the couch pillows before he gives himself a little mental shake. _Alright, Dameron, that might be overkill_ , he thinks to himself. He eyes it once more though, giving the pillow on the right a little pat to better position it, grinning at himself even as he ignores his own advice.

He wanders into his little kitchen, where his little corgi has been hanging out, ever since he sat the dishes of leftovers on his counter. He reaches down and scratches him behind the ears. “Not yet, Beebee, but I’ll bet you’ll get a little soon,” he says. He glances over the food once more, the leftover turkey and dressing and green bean casserole and rolls sitting near the pumpkin pie and three different kinds of sweet potato dishes (there’s never enough pumpkin and sweet potato dishes, at least to his taste buds.) Drinks are in the fridge and there’s some vanilla ice cream in the freezer.

Between the two of them ( _sorry_ , _three of them_ , he thinks, with a little apologetic nod towards the corgi) they could make a pretty sizeable dent in the leftovers during the course of three movies.

As if on cue, the doorbell rings. The corgi’s ears raise at the noise before he gets up and trots to the front door, eagerly panting as he waits for Poe to get there.

Poe opens the door, a smile already gracing his face at his own eagerness to see Rey.

She’s standing on the other side grinning at him, as beautiful as ever. It takes him a moment to realize she’s not exactly in the sort of comfortable clothing he would have expected for a day in eating leftovers and watching movies.

No, instead she went all out, dressing down in what look to be super comfy pajamas. The top is graced with Princess Leia’s stern face as she holds a blaster. The bottoms are a mishmash of other characters.

Is it too early to say he loves this girl?

He laughs. “I love it,” he says. “I just wish you told me ahead of time, so I could be wearing my own set.”

She grins back at him. “Who’s to say it’s too late to change?” Before she’s even done speaking, she’s already kneeling down to greet the corgi who’s been sniffing at her legs and panting up at her, clearly seeking an introduction. “And this must be Beebee. It’s so good to meet you,” she says, holding out her hand palm up as if to shake his hand, and she giggles in delight when he places his paw in her hand.

“He knows how to make a good first impression, I’ll give him that,” Poe says, kneeling down as well to scratch at Beebee’s back. “But now he’s gonna want a treat.” Poe’s already standing, ready to reach inside for a milk-bone he keeps in a jar by the door, but is stopped when Rey perks up.

“Luckily I have that covered!” She reaches into the bag she’s carrying and pulls out a stuffed dog toy shaped like R2D2. Beebee, the good boy he is, sits waiting patiently for his toy, even as his butt wiggles on the ground in his eagerness. Once she places the toy in front of his mouth, though, it’s all over as he runs back inside to the living room with it.

Poe realizes that they’re both still standing in his front doorway, so he steps back, and with a flourish, bows, and says, “After you, milady,” in his best Coruscanti accent, although he’ll be the first to admit that accents are not his strong suit.

Nonetheless, it serves its purpose when she giggles before donning her most regal impression, nodding her head as she replies, “Thank you, kind sir,” and walks inside.

“Let me show you around,” he says. He leads her through his house. It’s small, but cozy, more than sufficient to meet his and Beebee’s needs. He leads her into the living room, where Beebee is laying on his bed with his new toy, panting happily, and then lets her peek into the small backyard. The kitchen, of course, is the priority, and soon enough they’re both heaping food onto their plates, Rey already eyeing the desserts as she goes to heat up her food in the microwave.

“I can put your food in when mine is done, if you wanna go change,” she says, grinning.

“Well, if the lady insists,” he replies, already heading into his room to change. He can hear the microwave beep and Rey switch the plates out, and within moments, he’s changed into his favorite pair of pajamas.

When he steps back into the kitchen, she throws her head back and laughs uproariously. “Makes sense, you’re a pilot after all,” she says. His shirt may be a simple black shirt with “Star Wars” written on it, but his pants are bright orange and adorned with x-wings and the Rebel Alliance Starbird symbol.

“I’m team light side, all the way,” he says, shrugging.

“Same. I just can never decide whether I would want to be a pilot or a Jedi.”

“Why choose? You can be both. I bet you’d be both. Me, I’d probably be as Force sensitive as a potato.”

“Nah, I bet there would be something there. I bet the Force would love you,” she says, something almost a little shy in her smile.  

Poe smiles widely, even as he feels his cheeks heat up slightly at the somewhat unintentional compliment. He goes to pick up their plates, nods to the fridge. “Why don’t you grab us drinks?” He heads back into the living room and sets the plates on the coffee table, and Rey places two sodas next to them. He eyes Beebee for a moment, can’t help but ask, “But what about Beebee?”

Rey glances at the little corgi who’s still chewing happily away at his new toy. “Well, clearly you two would be inseparable. He’d probably be your astromech or something,” Rey says, tilting her head to the side for a moment, considering. “Either that, or he’ll be the next leader of the dark side.”

Poe laughs. “Darth Beebee? I’d watch that movie. If they ever make a sequel trilogy, that’d be a good storyline.”

They settle on the couch, and Poe starts up A New Hope while they eat their plates of food. He can’t help but take looks at her from out of the corner of her eye, a smile playing at her lips while she watches the movie, and she’s so caught up in the action that she doesn’t notice him looking. There is only a few inches of space separating them, and he kind of wants to close the distance and put his arm around her, but doesn’t know how she would feel about it. He wants to wait for the right moment, but maybe it’s too soon. He decides to wait and let her make the first move.

He doesn’t have to wait long. She moves to set her empty plate on the table in front of them, but when she leans back into the couch, she takes the opportunity to sit a little closer and lean into his side. It’s easy enough to move his arm out of the way and lay it around her shoulders, and she sighs a little as she curls up into him a bit more.

He gets a little distracted at the closeness and warmth of her, and he misses more than a little of the movie. It’s not that he’s bothered by it at all – he’s seen the movie enough times that he practically knows the whole thing by heart, and besides, there is something much more important curled up into his side.

Soon enough, the medal ceremony on Yavin IV concludes and the credits roll. She pokes him in the side, says “Refills?” and he nods, moving to stand. She groans a little as he moves away, and she stretches languidly before holding her hand out to him with a grin. He pulls her up easily before gathering their dishes to bring back to the kitchen.

“Do you want something more to eat, too? I’ve got plenty,” he says, reaching in to the fridge for two more drinks.

“Hmm,” she says, looking into the fridge and pulling out the leftover pie and some whipped cream. There’s enough pie leftover for one generous slice, or maybe two smaller pieces, and she places it on the counter between them. “Wanna split it?”

He can’t say no to pumpkin pie. He nods, and she gestures with the can of whipped cream. “Cover that bad boy up,” he says, and laughs when she smiles in obvious glee and proceeds to cover the pie up with the whipped cream.

Apparently, they share a sweet tooth, too.

Rey takes a heaping forkful of the pie and closes her eyes in obvious enjoyment as she eats that first bite. “This is so good,” she says. “Did you buy this or - ?”

Poe laughs, his father a strict traditionalist when it comes to his Thanksgiving meal. “Kes Dameron would never allow a store-bought pumpkin pie into his house on Thanksgiving. He goes all out when it comes to the baking.”

Rey shakes her head, gesturing at the pie with her fork. “Well, this might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life. It’s so good,” she says, and proceeds to take another bite.

“I’ll tell him you said that. Complimenting him on his cooking is a surefire way to his heart,” he says.

They both continue eating the pie, leaning over the counter until there’s nothing but crumbs left. She bumps her shoulder against his, smiling at him when he looks over at her. “Thank you again for inviting me to share all this.

“I’m really glad you said yes,” he replies, still gazing at her.

She’s still leaning against him, and everything feels all warm and soft and good, and it seems only natural that they would both lean in at that exact moment. Her lips still taste of the pumpkin pie, something warm and spicy, and he takes his time savoring it – savoring her. It’s slow, and sweet, and the most perfect first kiss he could ever imagine with her.

When they finally separate, neither one quite moves away. Instead, they remain leaning into each other, resting their forehead against the other’s, sharing breath and enjoying the other person’s presence. He’s known this woman for barely a month, and he already finds it difficult to imagine himself parted from her.

She leans in, brushes her lips against his once more, before saying, “You ready for the next movie?”

“Absolutely,” he says, reaching over to grab their drinks before heading back into the living room.

“Good,” she says, as she moves to sit down next to him, grabbing a blanket and spreading it across their legs. He settles his arm around her shoulders once more, before moving to click play on the remote. “Cause between the original and prequel trilogies, and the entire Clone Wars television series, we might be here awhile,” she says, grinning up at him before curling up into his side once more.

He smiles. He likes the sound of that.


End file.
